See the First Wacky Trailer for Japan's Live-Action 'Gatchaman' Movie

Gatchaman! I can't believe they actually made this. Some may recall that for afew years we closely covered the development of an animated adaptation of Gatchaman, a Japanese manga/anime series. It was never finished and never released, however, the Toho Company in Japan decided to just make an entire live-action Gatchaman movie instead. And here we have the first trailer. I don't even know what to make of this (no subtitles yet) but the footage is wacky. Almost Power Rangers meets The Avengers, or something like that. Some of the VFX look good, but those costumes, my goodness. Maybe I'm missing the point? Check this out.

Here's the very first Japanese trailer for Tôya Satô's Gatchaman movie, from YouTube (via ComingSoon):

Set in the near future, Gatchaman (known as "Battle of the Planets" in the US) follows five special agents of the International Science Organization in Tokyo as they try to protect the world from a mysterious terrorist group called Galactor. With technology that far surpasses that of humans, Galactor has declared war on the entire world. Trained to draw out the power from the mysterious crystal-like object called a "stone," our five heroes will be called "Gatchaman." The film stars Tôri Matsuzaka as Ken, Gô Ayano as Condor No Joe, Ayame Gôriki as Jun The Swan, Tatsuomi Hamada as Junpei The Swallow, Ryohei Suzuki as Ryu The Owl, Gorô Kishitani and Eriko Hatsune. This live-action Gatchaman is directed by Tôya Satô (Dream Master, Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler, "Ghost Mama Sôsasen") and will hit Japanese theaters in August. So?

There was a full-CGI film in production recently that had even got as far as having trailers circulating online, but it got shelved indefinitely because the production company went bankrupt. This looks promising, except for the Bieber hairstyles and the poignant Bump of Chicken interlude.

Robert Jensen

Never was a fan of the original anime, and I've loved watching anime since Astro Boy and Kimba back in the early 60's, but the movie looks pretty good.

Danimal

I feel like I just watched the movie 😉

Nick Sears

bump of chicken. that is all.

cobrazombie

That's the tastiest part.

matthew

Power Rangers?

Kirk Mailloux

The source material of Gatchaman is older than the power rangers so this is not A Rip off of them. Google Battle of the planets

mooreworthy

Its this or nothing.I choose this, plus it would stick to the source more than if Hollywood made this. Phoenix!